News

Three Collaborative Teams Receive Competitive Research Awards

DANVILLE and PHILADELPHIA, PA (September 15, 2008) — Fox Chase Cancer Center and Geisinger Health System today announced awardees of the newly established Collaborative Cancer Research Award Program. Designed to address cancer issues of particular relevance to people in Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond, the awards will provide start-up support to three innovative research projects.

Funded from the operating budgets of a larger strategic alliance between the two organizations, the program is designed to stimulate and encourage peer-reviewed, investigator-initiated collaborative research between Fox Chase Cancer Center and Geisinger Health System faculty. Each project will be co-led by a pair of senior investigators, one from each organization and will take advantage of Geisinger’s advanced electronic health record, the region’s tight-knit social geography, and the combined expertise and research resources of both organizations.

To be eligible for funding, each project was required to demonstrate a relevance to cancer patients, those at risk for cancer, or the families of these individuals residing or undergoing treatment in Northeast Pennsylvania.

An analysis of two molecules present in the tumor for their use in forecasting survival in lung cancer patients, co-led by Geisinger oncologist/researcher Amy Law, MD, and Fox Chase investigator Sibele I. Meireles, PhD

“Our aim for this new program is to stimulate the kind of creative, collaborative research that will lead to more effective preventions and treatments for cancer,” said Michael V. Seiden, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Fox Chase Cancer Center. “Also, by focusing on cancer issues of significance to the populations in Northeast Pennsylvania, we hope the joint effort will directly benefit the people living in that region of the state.”

“Reducing the cancer burden is the goal of the Fox Chase and Geisinger alliance,” said Geisinger President and CEO Glenn D. Steele, Jr., MD, PhD. “Most importantly, we hope the data we gather in this research will translate to improved methods of caring for patients with cancer - people who endure a great deal of pain in their daily lives.”

Programs included in the Fox Chase-Geisinger alliance are cancer prevention strategies, enhanced diagnostics techniques, and the most up-to-date treatments available, including access to the most advanced research and treatment modalities, clinical trials and innovations.

Geisinger Health System is also a member of Fox Chase Cancer Center's CCOP (Community Clinical Oncology Program) research base for cancer prevention and control initiatives. Currently underway, this National Cancer Institute-sponsored program offers additional opportunities for Geisinger and Fox Chase physicians and researchers to collaborate in cancer control and prevention activities.

Geisinger Health System is an integrated, physician-led health services organization serving more than two million residents throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania. It includes a tertiary/quaternary medical center with the nation's first rural children's hospital, two community acute-care hospitals, adult and pediatric trauma centers, a nationally acclaimed alcohol and chemical dependency treatment center, a heart institute, a cancer institute, a neurosciences program, two research centers, 40 community practice physician offices, and one of the largest not-for-profit rural HMOs in the country. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org.

Fox Chase Cancer Center, part of the Temple University Health System, is one of the leading cancer research and treatment centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence four consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. For more information, call 1-888-FOX CHASE or (1-888-369-2427).

Disclaimer: Temple University Health System (TUHS) neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents. Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System and by Temple University School of Medicine.